Beaten mom faces jail time

A mother who was tortured for seven hours and had her throat slashed in front of her twin sons has been forced to write to her attacker, and could face jail herself if she refuses.

Natalie Allman, 29, was battered with a dumb-bell and required reconstructive surgery after evil Jabson Hughes, 42, left her with deep lacerations on her neck.

The twisted former army reserve soldier attacked her because he wanted to make her look “ugly” after she dumped him.

Hughes was jailed for nine years in 2012 for the brutal attack at the couple’s home in Ross-on-Wye in southern England. The attack was witnessed by their twin sons.

But now a judge has ordered that the victim must send three letters a year to Hughes, updating him on their five-year-old boys, including photographs, every Easter, September and December.

The order has been made under parental rights laws, and if the mother does not comply she will be in contempt of court, and could be imprisoned.

Allman said: “We are the victims, not him. I thought he was going to kill me that night for no reason and my boys saw that. They were terrified.

“’I’m so angry that the law still defends his parental rights and that he is still being allowed to control us from behind bars.

“I couldn’t believe it. I could end up being split up from my children and sent to prison when he was the one who attacked me. I’m the one being treated like a criminal.”’

Allman met Hughes, who was already a father of two, in 2008, when they were both care-givers.

They became engaged in 2010, and she discovered that she was expecting twins.

But Hughes had a drinking problem and early in February 2011 Allman ended their relationship just two months before they had planned to marry. Days later, as Allman lay in bed, Hughes launched the seven-hour attack on his ex, attempting to smother her with a pillow before repeatedly bludgeoning her with a dumb-bell.

Allman had told Winchester Crown Court how she had woken up to find Hughes sitting astride her hitting her with the weight.

He then used the blade from a mini-tool to slash a 20cmlong cut across her throat.

Hughes, who had received training with bayonets and knives in the army reserves, only let Allman call an ambulance seven hours later.

When officers arrived, they found the couple’s terrified sons, then two, in bed with their mother and covered in blood.

She was rushed to hospital and Hughes was arrested by officers at the scene.

Allman had suffered eight wounds to her head and five fractures to her face bones.

She also needed cosmetic surgery to rebuild her throat.

Defending Hughes at the time, Abigail Nixon said if he had intended to kill Natalie he could have done so because of his military training.

“His intention was to cause a hideous scar she could not hide if she had dressed up to look pretty,” Nixon said.

“’He was trying to make her look ugly to other men.”

After Hughes was jailed, Allman began to rebuild her life, and the following year gave birth to a son, Aaron, with her new partner Wayne Young, 43.

But in January 2014, she was told Hughes was applying for an order under Britain’s Children Act, and was asking for six letters a year, as well as phone calls from the twins.

Allman spent £3 000 (R54 000) on legal fees to fight the demand, but a court ruled that she would have to send three letters a year.

She was also ordered to send an up-to-date photograph of the boys, while Hughes was given permission to send them cards at birthdays and Christmas.

Allman was told she must also keep the letters Hughes sends in case her sons want to read them when they are older.